The Blue King
by LostMe
Summary: The times that Vegeta had proof that a warrior is just as Strong as his mind. My telling of DBZ and DBZ-super if Vegeta was developted by, well, me. AU-ish.
"So if this isn't the so gracious Bulma Briefs! So say Bulma, who is your date today?"

The first time that she has seen him, he was confronting a beautiful green alien for the precious Dragon Ball that THEY had gathered. She was disgusted by him. And then she was disgusted for the very ugly figure said alien has become and then she didn't even know who she wanted to win the battle. At least when he won he didn't kill them. He asked for the Dragon Ball with unfeeling, psychopath's eyes, and left. And that was when she got confused.

She didn't see him when he arrived in Earth, but Kulilin has said that when the bigger Sayan was defeated, he begged Vegeta for something in a foreign language. Vegeta smiled, answered and killed him, in cold blood. Nappa was his companion, his friend. How could Vegeta kill him only because he has lost? They were deeply perturbed by the Sayan behavior. He didn't open his mouth before or after answering Nappa. And he was strong. So much stronger than any of them. According to Kulilin, Vegeta had already defeated Goku, he could easily defeat Kulilin and Gohan. But, somehow, he has misjudged his situation. He thought that he needed to become Ozaru and produced himself a moon. That was when he lost. He depleted his ki to produce the stupid moon and then when Yajirobe cut his tail he was less than a tenth of what he was before. And then the details of the fight were lost to Bulma. She didn't care, anyway.

Later, much later, after Namek, in Earth, Gohan has said that Vegeta has saved his life, more than once. But when he was supposed to fight… He couldn't move. He was beaten to death without even once trying to fight back. And the z-fighters had done nothing. And when Gohan told her that the warrior has cried while begging for Goku to kill Freeza… That all he has always wanted was to defeat the monster who had killed his race… That had killed his father and slaved him… She didn't believe him. But then, why would the kid invent something so absurd if that was not the truth?

And while they saw the great patriarch of Namek dying, knew about Freeza's destruction, the Sayan has said nothing. He only looked ahead with his unfeeling eyes. And then Goku, who stayed in the destroyed planet, could not be resurrected, and Gohan was crying. The Sayan got up, slapped the boy and said that if he wouldn't behave like a true warrior Vegeta would also kill his mother. Gohan then went berserk. He didn't hit the Sayan even once. After Gohan has spend all his energy in the attack, Vegeta said that they were all stupid, crying for a stupid thing. Bulma was enraged. Piccolo was gathering energy for an attack.

"Really?" The Sayan said. "Wish his foolish soul to Earth, and then ask for his life."

A healed Gohan got up and tried to thank him, but Vegeta acted like he was not seeing the boy. Bulma looked again to his unfeeling eyes and did not see the eyes of a psychopath, but those of a dead man. And if that man has really saved Gohan, has just said how to revive Goku… If her friends had let him die alone, unprotected, uncared for… She needed to do something for him. So she invited him to stay at Capsule Corporation, along the Namekians.

In the middle of the gentle aliens, it was so easy to forget Vegeta. The aliens were tall, colorful, loud and drank only water. Vegeta was short, dark, painfully quiet and asked for nothing. He accepted his new room with resignation. His meals were served in his room. In the first day he left almost half of his portion, so in the following days the robots had decreased the portion size. He never again left anything on his plate, but neither has he asked for seconds or bigger portions. He also seemed to run away from Bunny offers whenever possible. Bulma, that has started to believe that Sayans had a naturally great appetite, was again amazed by Goku's, and also Gohan's, ability to eat so much, when Vegeta was content with a small portion, even by human standards. She didn't notice that Vegeta, who was always slender when compared to her fighter friends, was becoming painfully thin. She didn't notice his bronze skin acquiring a sickly pallor. Not for the 129 days that she also didn't let herself be concerned that he had used the same ragged clothes and broken armor. After all, he rarely left his given room. He rarely made himself noticed.

The day before the resurrection of her friends, she couldn't sleep. She wandered throw her big home, into the yard to see the stars, while carrying a single red apple. Vegeta was laid on the grass, looking at the stars with his so dead eyes.

"Can't you sleep?" She asked, nervous. He was behaving so well that she had almost forgotten she had a cold blood killer in her house. Almost.

When he looked at her, she saw his hollowed cheeks, weak complexion and asked herself why they were all afraid of him. And especially why her mother insisted he was a handsome young boy. He resembled more a mummy without the bandages than he did a fighter. And then she remembered that she too once feared him. He wasn't so much taller than her, but he did seem enormous with his imposing presence and strong body. She also remembered that his armor would be a tight fit over his torso, and not that strange large exoskeleton he was wearing. And Bulma got mortified.

If he was sick, why didn't he ask for help? She approximated the apple to her lips, and saw something flicking in his eyes. Could he been… Starving himself?

"Do you want some apple, Vegeta?" She asked. He only "tsked" in response.

She looked away, and started to talk again, not wanting to leave him there, on the wet grass.

"Tomorrow the Dragon Balls will be ready. We will be able to ask for Goku and the others."

He kept his silence.

"I thought you'd be more interested in the Dragon Balls. You tried so hard to gather them on Namek…"

Vegeta closed his eyes for a brief moment, but soon enough was staring at the stars again.

"I wonder… What… What was you wish then?"

Vegeta took a deep breath, and after minutes of silence, Bulma was certain that he didn't consider her important enough to deserve a reply. And then he said that he would wish an immortal life.

The same wish Kaio-sama said Freeza had. A chill ran to her spine, thinking that maybe she really should have left him alone, under that tree. She should have stayed quiet, but she was Bulma Briefs, how could she?

"I hope you will not try to steal the Dragon Balls, you know Purunga only conceive wishes asked in his native language."

"I wish nothing from that dragon." He said.

Bulma, startled, left her apple on the ground, turned away and went back to the compound. From the window, she saw the Sayan picking the apple up, sniffing it and shoving it whole into his month. He eat even the steam and the seeds.

The next day, when they discovered that Goku was alive, Vegeta stole a spaceship and ran away to the space. A few months later, they heard him crashing back at the compound.

Yamcha ran to him, but the short Sayan only asked if Kakarot has come back. When he answered that no, the Sayan just sat under the tree and closed his eyes. Bulma of course was livid. The Sayan has stolen her father's spaceship, destroyed one third of her house and would just sit under HER tree, stinking ten months worth of sweat and grime? No no mister.

She yelled that Vegeta should take a shower and he, strangely enough, obeyed. And when she made a joke and provided a pink shirt and yellow trousers to him, he actually wore the hideous clothing. He asked about his other clothes, and she said it was in the wash machine. She did not know why he would want those rags. When he came out of the bathroom smelling and looking like a fucking flower, they laughed at him. Bulma stopped laughing when she got the look in his dead eyes. Then she remembered herself, and took some seconds to look to his bronze skin and filling musculature. He was still slender and frail looking, but she knew he was nothing but that. Yamcha, Kulilin and Puar got laughing. Bulma did nothing to stop them. Neither did the Sayan.

And then, not long after that, Goku was coming back. And also was Freeza. For the first time ever she saw heat in Vegeta's eyes. She used that moment to offer him some sauce to put on his barbecue. But once in the battle field? Vegeta stood still, his eyes locked on the Icejins, taking all their provocation in silence. Provocations they said in the earthlings' language, obviously to humiliate the Sayan to the other fighters.

"So the little monkey is still pissing himself at the sight of you?" Cooler mocked.

"He must have been a nice toy before you broke him, my son." Emperor Kold murmured. "Is he still tight, do you think?"

"How long until he screamed? How long until he begged? Let me see if I can make a better timing…"

It seemed that only Bulma was understanding what they were really saying, and she was grateful that the other fighters were either lost or not reacting.

She feared Vegeta would combust, cry or shout, but he was taking everything with indestructible stoicism. As seemed to be the norm, he wouldn't react.

"Once I offered your father the chance to pleasure me, if he begged nicely. He could beg, but in the other area he gave me a pitiful performance. Then I suggested, and he gave you to me. If you fall to your knees and beg, I will give you the same opportunity. If you are still good, I will let a traitor such as yourself live." Freeza said.

After that, only Gohan seemed still lost.

Vegeta closed his eyes, raised his palm and conjured a ki blast. He took so long to fire it that in the meantime a lavender haired boy who could go Super Sayan appeared and cut Freeza in two. He also blasted the freak. After that, Vegeta stood frozen for some instants, looking at the boy. He then fired and killed the other two Icejins on the spot. Then Goku finally arrived, and he and the boy talked for some time. After that, the boy explained about the coming androids. About how Goku never got a chance to fight. How the others died. How only Gohan survived and only long enough to train the boy.

"Are there other Sayans across universe?" Vegeta has asked.

After hearing his voice, the boy got flustered for the first time.

"Gohan was the only one I have ever met before today."

The boy then asked for them to train, gave Goku a vial of medicine and then left. They all left, with the exception of Bulma, Piccolo and Vegeta. Bulma stood some seconds looking at the slightly trembling frame of the Sayan, when Piccolo's voice cut the air.

"One of those Icejins were even stronger than Freeza. The other was not, but still fairly powerful. You killed both with a single hit."

Bulma's eyes widened. Was that true?

"Why had you not killed Freeza on Namek? Why not even sooner?" The green alien continued.

"You should know that a warrior is just as strong as his mind." The Sayan replied. He then took flight and left.

Piccolo looked straight at Bulma and said that if Vegeta could not take the androids, it was doubtful that Goku would, Super Sayan or not. Bulma didn't believe him, after all, Goku was now the strongest of the universe, wasn't he?

Two weeks later, Bulma found Vegeta on the top of a tree in the capsule Corp. compound. She asked him if he had anywhere to go. He said he needed a place to train. She said he could stay at the compound and she would provide anything he needed if he was going to save Earth. He tsked and replied that he didn't care for Earth. She said that the offers would still stand if he'd fight, anyway.

Eventually she adapted one spaceship to a Gravity Room and Vegeta trained there. Since his schedule was completely crazy, she also equipped the small room of the ship, so he could rest and eat during his train as he seemed appropriate. Remembering his previous reluctance in asking for food, she assured him that the fridge would be always stocked, and that he could ask for anything. He actually asked for protein bars, eggs and a strange combination of ingredients that formed a formidable ration. That formula she studied and, after reducing the nutrient and caloric intake drastically, launched a whole line of supplements for athletes. The food stock she thought would last a month lasted only two days. Loyal to her word, she maintained the stock full of what he has asked. She saw him eating one day. He ate curled around his food, like he was afraid someone would steal it. That day she started to wonder if Vegeta ever had enough to eat before his life on Earth.

Another thing got her attention. Strangely enough, the cleaning robots often arranged new towels and clean training clothes for him, but never new bed clothing. It took her weeks to figure out that he was not sleeping in his bed because he napped sitting on the floor, with his back supported on the vee of the walls, in the darkest corner of the room. She gave him extra pillows. He didn't use any.

Occasionally she saw the Sayan around the compound, but it was rare. Usually it was because the Gravity Room needed an upgrade or, just once, mind you, had stopped functioning. But once, she saw him talking to her father. The next day, Dr. Briefs had a large collection of blueprints of several kinds of training bots. Bulma was curious, but once again it was easy to ignore the Sayan. He lived in the shadows of the compound, and in even more forgotten places in her mind.

Yamcha had not forgotten him, but somewhere between fearing and hating the Sayan, the human also got to feel superior to him. After all, he now knew that Vegeta was not a proud warrior, but a tyrant's bitch. He knew that what he was feeling was wrong, but the darkest part of him was glad that someone had made that monster suffer. Not once Yamcha stopped to consider that it was why Vegeta was such monster, for starters. And Bulma could see through Yamcha's soul like it was only a thin door of glass. Also Yamcha was now playing professional baseball and was an emerging star. A rich, famous and deadly gorgeous boy, who knew he possibly only had three years to live. Three years to enjoy. He started to test his limits.

And Bulma let it pass. He would flirt with girls in front of her and she would pull his ear, but nothing more. She would only click her tongue against her teeth anytime Vegeta would murmur about that "fucking horrid perfume" Bulma herself could smell on Yamcha's clothes and skin. She didn't care. She was more preoccupied about surviving the end of her world, anyway.

But then Yamcha was photographed kissing Mia Bulks. And who was Mia Bulks? Mia Bulks was a socialite, daughter of some jerk of Earth nobility. Mia Bulks was a beautiful and artificial but stunning blonde woman. Mia Bulks was Bulma's greatest rival. Not because she could actually threaten Bulma in any way, but because she felt that if Earth had a princess, it would be her. Bulma was prettier, richer and worlds smarter than her. So it really would piss Bulma of when Mia acted like she was superior in every way.

Mia has dated a tenth heir to some forsaken place throne for the last years, just to piss Bulma of. All her life before the Dragon Balls search Bulma has had problems making friends and mainly finding and keeping a boyfriend. She was too harsh, too aggressive. Too much in every way, and Mia was always delighted in showing Bulma that the guys would implore to be with her. And when Bulma got herself her handsome desert bandit, Mia got her dead gorgeous prince. And wasn't Yamcha just a shy and awkward young man? But then he grew refined under Bulma's care and was now a talented and coveted baseball player. Stylish but with a debonair and ragged air over his head. He was a trophy that Mia has just conquered from Bulma.

And so, in the next day of Bulma seeing the photography, when Yamcha came bringing flowers and fake diamonds, she said it was enough. That he should go and live what remained of his life. That if they all survived, she would like to see him again. He tried to beg her to forgive him, but she said it was okay.

"She publicly dumped you, you know? Want to do me a favor? Go to a woman spree; make it look like you would bed anyone. At least she will be only one more." She told him.

But Yamcha went back to the desert with Puar to train, determined to win the battle against the androids. For all effects, it looked like he traded Bulma for Mia and when dumped got lost to depression. That was more difficult for Bulma to forgive.

And she knew, she knew deep in her heart, how fucked up it was to try to maintain appearances while the world could end in less than two years, that she could be dead tomorrow for god's sake, but she still needed that small victory to maintain her sanity. Mia's father was going to give a ball, yeah, a fucking ball, and she was invited. And she needed to go with a date. But who could be her date? She could not produce some famous handsome new boy without screaming that they are not in a relationship. That it was not only for appearances. After all, even if her life was private enough, theirs was not. So she would have to go with someone that was not that famous. She still could ask any pretty boy on the street, they would kill themselves for the opportunity, but what once in the ball? Wouldn't they lose their attentions for anything promising in the party? No, it must be someone that would be there only for her. It left only her friends. And weren't they all very talented martial artists? But… Goku was handsome and loyal and she really loved him, but he was dumb as a rock and would probably embarrass her since he would eat anything he saw. Tien and Piccolo were handsome in their own way but, come on, one had three eyes and the other one was green. Also she still didn't really trust any of them. Kulilin and Chiotsu were very nice, but nothing close to the perfect date she wanted. And Master Hoshi… Yuck. The only friend she could ever ask was Yamcha himself and… Wasn't because of him that she was in this disaster?

She was just contemplating creating herself her own android (maybe he could defeat the other ones, it would be a nice bonus) when Vegeta came throw the door.

He passed without looking at her and went to the yard, where he sat cross legged, levitating two palms above the ground and closed his eyes. She kept looking at him until he snapped.

"You are interrupting my meditation. What do you want?"

"I need a date to the ball tonight. Wear the clothes I'll select for you, stay by my side looking bored all the night and I will give you anything in my power to give."

"No." He replied.

"I will cut the power of the Gravity Room if you don't."

"And then I will not train, and you will die. I dare you to do it."

"I will trade all your food for tofu." She replied, knowing he hated tofu.

"I had survived on worst things."

"I will…"

"Even if you poison my food, or somehow create something and kill me, then I will be dead. And in two years so will you. And?"

She sighed in defeat.

"I will go. But you will let me meditate in peace until then." He replied.

Her victory was strangely bittersweet.

That night, he was at her side, wearing a beautiful dark gray silk vest, with a blood red cravat. His bronze skin made a nice contrast to her milky one, and the severity of his face complemented the life and false tranquility of her blue tones perfectly. Forty minutes into the party so long, and Vegeta was actually behaving. He didn't show any intention to go near the food table, drank nothing and actually got a fluke of champagne for Bulma when he saw her looking at it with long eyes. He didn't answer anybody, but with his crazy hair and dark skin, it was easy to apologize that he was not used to their language. He also held himself so menacing, so powerful and so superior, that more than one person asked themselves if he wasn't some kind of foreign noble, or a war lord.

And then Mia came, and from her artificial perfect red mouth came the question.

"So if this isn't the so gracious Bulma Briefs! So say Bulma, who is your date today?"

Bulma looked at the Sayan, and then at her rival, not expecting the so direct question, but also wanting to slap herself for not knowing it was coming.

"This is Vegeta." She said, remembering too late that he did not have a last name. For appearances sakes she said. "Vegeta, meet Mia."

Vegeta looked at the girl, unimpressed, and choose to stare at Bulma's hands instead. Bulma could see that he was rather amused by the way her hands clasped over the glass fluke.

"So, what do you do for a living, Vegeta?" She asked, seductively.

Vegeta didn't answer, but directed a rather bored look at her direction. In the strange light of the ball, Bulma took the time to see the tiny scars that adorned his face. There were so many that she could not understand how she had not noticed before. Or why he called Yamcha scarface, since Yamcha had only 3, even if very ragged, scars. She had counted 15 scars when she remembered Mia.

"I'm sorry Mia, but he does not speak our language very well yet."

Mia waited expectantly for her to answer in his place, but Bulma got quiet.

"You know, after I tasted that pitiful basketball player…"

"Yamcha played baseball, you brat." Bulma replied, before seeing Mia's smile. It was a trap and she had fallen into it.

"I accepted Brian back. He asked me to marry him. What do you think about a spring marriage?"You know, Brian is the tenth to the line of the throne. I think he is hoping to have a beautiful princess at his side. He is right, why would he content himself with anything less?"

And she seductively insinuated herself to Vegeta. Vegeta actually looked her over, focusing too long in her hand that she was using to caress the exposed flesh of the top of her breasts. Bulma was incredulous for some instants, until he tsked and got one of Buma's hands into his larger ones.

"I think you should go on a diet." He said, with his heavy accent that Bulma has only gotten hints before.

Mia was startled and Bulma was biting her lip in order to keep from laughing. Mia wasn't fat, by any means, but for Vegeta to say that… It was hilarious.

"I am not fat! How dare you to say…"

"I do not think you are fat. I just think you are a waste of natural resources." He said again.

And then Bulma noted what Vegeta was doing. He was caressing the small calluses that she desperately tried to avoid, but could not. Looking at the smudges of grease forever printed over her nails. He was saying that she was useful in the war she fought, with the guns she had. She was not a waste of space. She should not compare herself to that failure of a human being.

Mia was outraged. Bulma was laughing with her whole body but her mouth. Vegeta was again bored. Mia left, directing a murderous look towards the couple, but not before saying.

"Say what you may. You are still the perfect Bulma Briefs, that cannot hold the attention of anyone of importance. Once your new pathetic, scarred and brute pet can be out of your hair, what will you do to maintain him with you?"

After that, Bulma lost all the reason to laugh. And also all the reason to stay. They got out, and Bulma drove them both to the Capsule Corp. compound in silence. After all, Mia was right. Vegeta had no money, no planet, no one. That was why he was staying with her. What would he do if he had a choice?

"Once, I was the crown prince of Vegetasei. The most powerful to be born in one thousand years."

Vegeta's voice broke throw Bulma's thoughts and she gasped. Was he a prince? The crown prince? Should he be king now if Freeza had not happened? Having the finest wines and food? Accompanied by the most beautiful women of the galaxy?

"Why haven't you said anything?" She asked him.

"My only goal in life was to defeat Freeza. The only thing that moved me was the possibility of going legendary, something other Sayans did not dare to dream. I lost my goal and my will already. Why would I care for a birthright that has lost its meaning since I was ten?"

She didn't dare to digest his words for fear of crying. Instead, she asked.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you know that I am not nobody. In another life, you could be proud to have me at your side. And that disgusting excuse of a woman would be bowing to your feat, because you would be at the company of the Emperor."

Today, Vegeta has done more talking than in the past two months. Bulma was grateful for everything he said, and also deeply saddened. After all, he said that she would be a worth company, even if he had his pride, planet and people back.

It was only fitting that she was trying to appear like the princess of a falling planet, accompanied by a fallen prince.

* * *

Vegita has never asked for anything except silence for meditating. And with time, he even stopped asking for that.

He simply learned to ignore her, or anything around him, really. But he knew he wouldn't be able to ignore her for too long. After all, if the boy came from the future, he was unavoidable.

And she called herself a genius! The boy came using a Capsule Corp. jacked, for kami's sake! Not only that, but his eyes were the impossible hue of hers, and he also inhered her father's stupid hair. Maybe she was, just as everybody else, unable to believe that what they had never thought about could actually be possible. Like their mudball being round, like Kakarot being a Sayan. Like a third class dog being able to defeat Freeza. Like someone like Vegeta being able to have a son. A half Human that could be the legendary Sayan, the so waited perfect heir to a throne that was no more.

If the boy's ki did not scream the blood of the royal house of Vegeta, the older Sayan would still be able to recognize the smell of the boy's skin anywhere. And his features… There was no doubt in his mind the boy was his. And Bulma's. He could even recognize the techniques the boy had used as some he himself had created as an immature warrior and has not used since a teenager, or taught anyone, yet.

He only could not understand what could have possessed him to sleep with her. Much less what had possessed her to consent to it! Well, at least he believed she had consented. She will… She would… Messing with the timeline really did a number on his thought process.

And the boy's power… If he could still feel anything, knowing that the power to go legendary laid in his blood would be at the same time a relief and a torment. Relief to not have chased shadows for his whole life. Torment to know he was incapable of doing it even when both his child and Kakarot had done that in an earlier age.

But maybe that was just not his destiny, after all. Wouldn't that be the final irony? The prince of all Sayans, destined to reign an empire, given to a repulsive snake as a cheap slave, to be used as a sex tool and then turned to an even cheaper, even if rather deadly, weapon – something like a nuke used to kill a mosquito. Or wet polvora, when it came to the tyrant himself. Vegeta, the more powerful to be born in one thousand years, had been physically stronger than Freeza since the Sayan was twenty. He was unable to properly breath, talk or stop to tremble in front of the snake since he was seven. At least he has grown out of pissing himself in front of him in an early age. The once proud and spoiled child, once a pick eater, that have had his growth stunted by hunger. A body that should heal from almost any battle injury, that was completely scarred. The perfect boy that should have been adored by a whole race that discovered that love was a lie, as cold and empty as space itself. The one born to be the golden warrior, who would die as an insect, under the foot of a fucking android.

And he knew he would. After all, if it was possible to alter his destiny, of course there would be no boy came from there to tell him he was dead. Why would he come if he had changed his past, after all?

At least the woman would be able to raise his son as a powerful, if not proud or visceral, warrior. A leader to his also falling race. What a shitty irony.

It was so fucked up it only could be true.

So, one day, he was training in the Gravity Room in a really high gravity, trying to drown the sound of the yells with the noise of the generators. He could not.

The Weakling has come back. And he was rather pissed at Bulma because she was providing the equipment the Sayan needed to get stronger.

"He is a killer B! He may stop the androids, but who could ever stop him?"

"He is not a rapid dog or a bitch in heat! He can control himself!" She would replay.

"But why would he even want to?"

"What would he gain destroying the only place he has to stay?"

"Do you think it means anything to him? He has killed his fellow Sayan, his battle companion, his only friend, because he has fallen in battle. Why do you think he would refrain himself from destructing this planet? We mean nothing to him. You mean nothing to him."

Vegeta shouldn't care. After all, the Weakling was right.

"I know you think life has done wrong to him, but he fucking deserved it! So Freeza has killed his race? We should be grateful for the pest control service! They were cruel! How many people do you think he has killed? How many corpses he had abused? How many he may have raped? So what if he got abused once? It pales in comparison to what he has done!"

Vegeta could never hear the slap Bulma gave Yamcha, because in that moment, a spike in his ki made the Gravity Room explode.

When he woke up, the woman was sited at a comfy chair, at his bedside.

"Hello sleepyhead."

He just closed his eyes and wished he was unconscious.

"The Gravity Room exploded. You were out for a whole week."

Yeah. He could tell.

"You got not even a single new scar for your troubles."

That got his attention. He looked at her.

"So I had to ask myself… What could ever be strong enough to leave a scar in this thick skin of yours?"

"Death." He answered, before closing his eyes again.

She did not want to understand what he meant by that.

And then one year has come and gone, and Bulma noticed that Vegeta did not believe he would survive the androids affair. And that he only trained because he had nothing else to do. If he didn't have any hope, why should she?

After all, she had written it in that fucking time machine, hadn't her? She could never understand why she would want to continue to fight in a fallen world for so long, to the point of constructing a not yet born child the means to change her past forever. To bring Goku back. Why would she want to live for 20 years in a world so broken the child has risked his own existence in order to avoid?

So desperate and alone as she was, she resolved to fuck it up for real. Her birthday came and her mother insisted in a party Bulma didn't want. Yamcha, Tien and Chiotsu refused to come to her home because of her guest. Said guest was teaching Gohan, of all fighters, some very basic ki controlling techniques and attacks (some of them strangely similar to the ones she has seen the kid from the future using) while Bulma decided to reserve a small plate of food for him.

"I cannot believe you are actually getting that monster more food." Chi-Chi snarled, still sour for the time Goku has spent in hospital after fighting the absent Sayan.

Bulma was going to answer that said monster was teaching her son something way more important than all that advanced bullshit Chi-Chi asked from him, that he hadn't eaten anything that day yet, when she saw Goku inhaling the available food. So Bulma shot it all to hell.

That very night she got herself in the Sayan's bed, who accepted her with resignation rather than lust. As everything between then, it was a rather bittersweet moment, but one she would treasure forever.

It wasn't a lustful, passionate night. Neither was it really pleasurable. Vegeta was hesitant to touch her the whole time. It took her too long to notice that he was afraid to hurt her, simple because he did not know how to control his strength in this situation. She just prayed that it was not his first time consenting. That he was actually consenting, since she could not get him to fully relax. She couldn't either, because his hardened skin and tense muscles under her was similar to an embers covered floor. When he finally got hard, her selfsteam was so low she thought she would weep in bed. It hurt to finally have him inside of her. He almost needed longer than what she could take to achieve his release. She never got hers. And he noticed it.

They were laid in bed, side by side, when something Yamcha has said once came to her mind. In her recently taken decision to shot everything to hell, she figured she should just ask.

"When you first came to Earth, you killed your sidekick. Why?"

Vegeta stayed so long in silence, she thought he would not answer. When he finally did, she almost didn't hear him.

"He dared to lie to me in our mother language."

"What did he say?"

"That he loved me."

After some more minutes in silence, she asked why he thought it was a lie.

"Love does not exist."

"Hadn't he stayed at your side your whole life?"

"His duty was to protect me. He let Freeza take me, and then got aroused embracing my broken body."

"Could he stop it?"

"He should have died trying the first time."

Vegeta then closed his eyes and Bulma got quiet, perturbed by the use of the word 'first' in his speech. He did not ask her to leave the bed and she soon fell asleep, somewhat content that he has let her get so close. When she awoke, she was alone in bed and the ship that contained the Gravity Room was gone.

* * *

Some weeks later, Bulma discovered she was pregnant. And when she held Trunks in her arms for the first time seven months later… Got to look at his dark skin, blue eyes and that strand of lavender hair… In that moment she understood why she would fight in a broken world for 20 years. She also got to wonder if Vegeta has really died fighting the androids or if it was just what she told her son, when she realized that Vegeta has gone to space and probably would never come back.

She cried and sobbed the whole night holding her son. After all, he was the most precious thing in the world for her and she had dared to endanger his existence by letting him came back to warn them. Just how miserable must be their future if she allowed it?

And just before the third year mark, Vegeta came back. And the hell broke loose.

* * *

The androids were strong, but nothing compared to that Cell freak that come from the future along Mirai Trunks. And Vegeta, a confused but capable warrior when fighting the androids, was a trembling mess while in front of Cell. But then again, the freak had Freeza's ki.

When Cell killed Trunks, Vegeta had gone ballistic. But he was so enraged, so disturbed, that he could not control his movements, could not do any real harm. But Gohan could. With Goku dead again, Gohan was the only one who could. So while Vegeta was still struggling to do any harm to the monster, Gohan shot the biggest Kame-Hame-Ha in known history, and defeated the freak.

Bulma herself gathered the Dragon Balls that would enable them to bring her son and friend back. But Goku did not want to return. And apparently neither did Vegeta, who was missing since the end of the fight. It was Mirai Trunks who found him.

"Mother misses you, you know." Trunks said, to the back of his father's neck.

"Which one?" The older Sayan snarled, not turning around.

"Both of them. But just the one from this time still has any hope." The boy answered, sitting at the other's side.

They stayed some time in silence, when Trunks started talking again.

"You know, my mother, the one from my timeline, thought that if we had Goku at our side against the androids we could have won. They all seem to think that Goku is… Was the answer for every problem. Even Goku-san himself believed that, staying away to avoid problems for Earth."

"Your point, kid?" Vegeta asked.

"Well. It is just… Have you noticed that he actually didn't win any fight this time?"

That got a small smile from Vegeta.

"You know… The androids this time were way more powerful than the ones in my timeline. I can destruct the ones in my world now, with all the training you made me do. That Gallic Gun attack… It is insane! Why had you not taught that to Gohan so he could pass it to me?"

Trunks remembered, too late, that this Sayan was not the same who trained Gohan in his timeline, so he didn't have that answer. Vegeta replayed, not concerned.

"Probably because Gohan would not be able to teach something he can't learn himself. The Gallic Gun is the original attack from the royal bloodline. It is the mark of a true king to be able to learn it."

Trunks was speechless. Was his father saying he would be an acceptable heir? Was that Vegeta's way to say he was proud of him?

"You will always have as much power as you can control, kid." Vegeta murmured.

And Trunks knew what he was trying to say. When he saw his father for the first time, he could not understand why he had not simply defeated the androids. He was more than powerful enough. But when he saw the way his father has reacted to the androids speech… They knew exactly what to say in order to destroy his concentration. Even his golden hair would flick gold from black sometimes. And then Cell came, and Trunks knew his father was a broken man. If not from Trunks at his side, if not by Goku's presence reminding him that Freeza was not invincible, so neither was Cell or his nightmares… Maybe Vegeta would not have survived the weight of his own mind. But he had, and in the end that was what enabled Gohan to kill the beast. That day, Vegeta was more a hero than Goku would ever be.

"This world is peaceful now, because of you. You have a right to stay and find your own peace."

"What for?"

"We may need you next time. This planet may need you at your best. The baby me needs you at his side. I could have defeated that fucking machines ages ago if you had trained me as a child. But if you don't mind, that is not something I will be telling my mother…"

Vegeta didn't care if a Bulma from another timeline thought he was a warrior weaker than Kakarot. If his mind was going to betray him every time it would count, signal that he was, indeed, weak.

"Please, stay with her. Stay with me."

Vegeta nodded, and followed his son to the compound. When Bulma saw then, she just threw some bedclothes to Vegeta.

"The ones in your old bedroom are dusty." She said.

After Trunks, both, had gone to bed, Bulma went to Vegeta's bedroom. She knocked twice before he opened the door.

"Are you staying?" She asked him.

"Do you want me to?"

"Of course. You are Trunks' father. I want him to know you."

"There is nothing about me worth knowing."

"The grown version of your son disagrees."

"I will stay."

Vegeta stopped sleeping in the small bedroom of the Gravity Room after that night, but still could not sleep in his bed. It was not a problem, since the bedclothes were just for show. Bulma has bought him a really comfy chair and put it in his bedroom, where he could snuggle his whole body and still be with his back to the wall, facing the door. For his peace of mind, she also had installed a ki alarm, that would alert them of any strange ki coming to the compound. It got really loud when said ki was near the bedrooms. With time, that enabled Vegeta to actually relax enough to sleep, knowing that the awful noise would wake him, if needed.

* * *

Vegeta still trained, but he also got some time to learn something about Earth and human costumes. He would also teach some of Sayan traditions to Bulma, and explain some other things relative to the growth of a Sayan, helping her to figure out what may be happening to their half-breed son.

"When will he be ready to start his training?" Bulma asked, one day.

"He already is." Vegeta replied.

"Why aren't you training him, then?" She asked.

"You did a fine job in the other timeline."

"Are you crazy? Imagine what he will be capable of if you train his body? This time I will be able to train his mind! He will be unstoppable!" She said, cooing her son.

Vegeta looked at the woman and thought that in a different life, she would be a magnificent queen.

* * *

"In what language do you speak to him?" She asked, one day, after noticing that Vegeta not once spoke in an earthling language to their son.

"It is Standard. He may need it someday."

"Why don't you teach him Sayandi?" She asked.

"What use would a dead language have?" He asked her, with pain in his eyes.

Bulma refrained herself to ask the use of an intergalactic language not spoken in Earth. Instead she said:

"Would you teach me instead?"

"Ask the stupid dragon."

Bulma did just that. She was fluent in Sayandi, but could not practice. It was extremely painful to Vegeta to hear it spoken freely, and she had no one to talk to.

While thinking about the language, Bulma got really perturbed to know they had a word for 'regret' but not for 'forgiveness'. However, they did have 7 words for love. That gave her hope.

* * *

Once a month, more or less, she would insinuate herself in the Sayan's bed. Vegeta would always accept her, and with time learnt to relax in her presence. When his guard was down, his skin got silken, and his muscles were comforting, albeit dense. His normal temperature was way higher than hers, but that was fine. After all, once they found their pace, sex became extraordinary.

She also got to know him better, with time. She would ask him questions, and sometimes he would answer.

"Were you disgusted by Earth's food when you arrived? You had eaten very little that first night…"

"I had no guaranties I would be given more, I was saving the rest for times of need."

"And when the bots cleaned the leftovers… How much have you suffered in Freeza's ship?"

"I don't want your pity."

* * *

Some questions, he would only answer in the darkness of his bedroom, while hugging her near his body.

"How does dying feel?"

"I felt nothing."

* * *

"Did you feel any different after being brought back to life?"

"I went to hell. And then I woke up buried in the battle field of a dying world. It was strangely the same."

* * *

"What was your favorite food in Vegeta-sei?"

"I do not remember."

* * *

"What was your mother like?"

"She died during my birth."

* * *

"Have you ever loved anyone?"

"Love does not exist, Bulma."

* * *

Everything was fine-ish.

Vegeta was a good, even if not a loving, father.

"Dada… Dada…" Trunks was babbling, pulling his father's trousers.

Vegeta stopped his kata, and sat in the grass at eye level to his son.

"Do not touch me during my training Trunks. You may get hurt."

"Dada! Ki ball!"

Vegeta sighed and made a minuscule ki ball and gave it to Trunks. The toddler was delighted trying to control it. He could maintain it alive for three minutes. Vegeta was insanely proud of his son.

* * *

He was not boyfriend material also, but he would satisfy her sexual needs when she asked him to, and would not demand her attention while she was otherwise occupied with her work. He was even a good company, when the mood struck him. Bulma was content. Vegeta even accompanied her to one of Mia's horrid parties, once.

"I knew only this brute would father your son." Mia has said to them.

"I'm honored he had." Bulma replied.

"You should. He is the only one willing to, even if I do not understand why he stays. Are you paying him? By the way, have you met my new boyfriend?" She asked, pulling Mister Satan near her.

"He is a real world hero. What does Vegeta do, again?"

Vegeta snarled to them. Mister Satan, recognizing him from the Cell games, actually cowed. Bulma burst laughing and went looking for a drink. Vegeta followed her.

"I'm not staying because you pay my food, you know." Vegeta said, after the party.

"Vegeta, we sold the right to reproduce your last blueprint for four million zenis. Of course you are not staying for the food you obviously can pay for."

"Still, sometimes I do not know why I'm here."

"I'm glad you are."

* * *

"I may be never able to love you." Vegeta said, after they had sex.

"I know." She said, afraid to answer that she, on the other hand, would always love him.

"But I swear to always be here to protect you and the boy."

"That is love, Vegeta." She said, letting a small tear fall from her eyes.

They got married in the end of winter. There was no party, no guests, no paparazzi. And no vows. It was not her dream wedding, but it was enough.

It was enough for a long time. Until the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. It was supposed to be a happy day. Goku was coming back to fight. Vegeta was excited about the possibility of defeating Goku. An eight year old Trunks was delighted with the idea of winning in front of his father. It was supposed to be a happy day.

But then Babidi happened. And along Babidi, Vegeta has gone majin and Buu was reborn. And Bulma didn't know what to think about the situation. She had sensed her husband die, lost everything, had died herself and now was in the Lookout, waiting for the end of the day. An hour ago she had heard Vegeta's voice and that gave her hope. Hope his soul was not shattered and he could be resurrected. But at each second that passed, that hope was breaking her heart.

When Gohan arrived, she didn't feel anything. She knew she should be relieved he was fine, but she was too worried about her son to really care. So when Trunks appeared, she was so happy her son was alive and whole that she could not breathe.

Goku arrived, along a should-be-dead Buu, a very loud Mister Satan and a dog. Chi-Chi was yelling and crying, and the whole Son family was cheering. Bulma knew she should be happy, but her broken heart started bleeding again. She tried to hug her son, only to see the boy running to the other side of the Lookout. She followed him, not understanding, but got frozen in her path when she saw what was happening. Vegeta was there, sitting in the ground and with a very tired look, but alive. The boy had grabbed his father's hand, with a big smile on his face and tears in his eyes. Bulma ran to them, and stopped just shy of touching her husband.

She thought Trunks were going to ask a million questions per second, but the boy was smart. He knew what he wanted to know.

"Is everything going to be ok now?"

"I hope so, Trunks. I hope so." Vegeta answered, looking at Bulma.

* * *

Being brought back to life and almost dying again in the same day must be very tiring. Vegeta sure looked exhausted.

"You should go and take a hot bath. You look like shit." Bulma said, while arranging the sheets of their shared bed.

"Why are you not mad at me?" Vegeta asked, standing at the door of their bedroom.

"I am." She replied.

"So why are you concerned about my wellbeing?" He asked then, looking to the floor.

"Vegeta. I am beyond mad at you. But I still love you. So, first I will make sure you are fine. Then I will yell at you to my heart's content."

"I'm fine." He said.

"You died Vegeta."

"You and the boy died too. Both were my fault."

Bulma took a deep breath.

"You want me to scream now, I scream now. But I'm getting into the bath myself. I suggest you come with me." She said.

Vegita did.

Once in the bath, the questions came.

From that talk, Bulma learned two things. The first one was that Vegita was still struggling with his own mind. The same thing than when he fought Freeza, the androids or Cell. And Babidi found that fragile part of Vegeta's mind and used that to possess him. The mage was not strong enough to control Vegeta completely, but just enough for Vegeta getting really confused. For him to suffer all his tortures over and over again, and then believe that the only way to stop the pain was to die fighting Goku. At that moment, he didn't care about the lives he was killing. After all, if he had such a miserable existence, why should anyone get the chance to live the life he couldn't?

The second thing she learned was that what made Vegita break the connection was the idea of losing his family.

"Are you telling me you did it for Trunks?"

"The boy, you and the planet you two call home."

"It is your home too."

Vegeta stayed silent.

Three weeks later, Bulma interrupeted Vegeta's training.

"Have you seen Trunks' poetry homework?"

"No Bulma, I haven't." He answered, thinking that it would be highly counterproductive to his self assigned mission of returning to Bulma's favors to say that he never had, and never would concern himself about the kid's earthy education.

"You should." She simply said, giving him a notebook. In the market page, it was written:

' _Just how bad must be a heart for it stop being good? Is goodness like pure water, which even the least bit of poison can corrupt? Or is a heart a dark room? A room that can be illuminated by the littlest of flames? Wouldn't a loved heart know love? Once it knew love, wouldn't it be capable to mimic light? Wouldn't a heart capable of love, even flooded by darkness, be essentially a good heart?_ '

"He…" Vegeta started.

"He loves you, Vegeta. Never forget that."

"I won't."

"I love you too, you know?"

"Yes. I know."

"Good." She said, and turned to leave.

To her turned back, Vegeta whispered that she was his light, the only thing that could turn Earth into his home. He said these in Sayandi. She translated it to 'love'.

That was much more than what she ever expected.

* * *

"Papa. I don't want to meditate! I want to train!" Trunks protested.

"A warrior is only as strong as his mind, son."

"And so why is Goku-san so strong?"

"That third-class dog is too stupid to know his mind is weak."

"Papa, it does not make any sense!"

Vegeta opened one eye and looked at his ten years old son.

"I apologize." The kid said. "It is just… Since Goku-san started to train Goten he got so strong… He even can do a Kame-Hame-Ha…"

"Do you want to kill Goten, son?"

"NO PAPA! IT IS NOT LIKE THIS!"

"Your body can barely sustain the ki you have now. You are growing, and your body is getting stronger, but I can't train you any harder. You already do a mostly perfect kata, but I'm afraid that teaching you a more complicated one will only confuse you. If I teach you any ki attack, you may lose control and end killing you opponent, or blowing up the planet. The only thing I can help you with is teaching you how to control your ki. Once you can control your mind enough, we might start thinking about more complex attacks."

"Can you teach me how to do a Kame-Hame-Ha?"

"Yes. Do you want to learn it?"

"Of course I want to!"

Vegeta closed his eye.

"Meditate today. I will teach you the base of a Gallic Gun tomorrow."

"Papa! How could I ever…"

"You can learn it. It will be enough for now."

Trunks did not ask his father about the meaning of 'now'. Instead, he looked for that place in his soul where his ki fluted and got aware of it running throw his veins.

"Why do you call Goku-san 'third-class dog'? Chi-Chi-san gets really mad at you for this." Trunks asked, sometime later.

"He was born a third-class in our home planet."

"Oh… And you were of elite…"

"Funny, isn't it?"

"Dad?"

"He got legendary first. He gave a second chance to my killer. My son wants to learn his main attack. And everybody seems to get offended when I call him by what he was in our home planet."

"His family says Goku-san is stronger than you. So you should respect him."

"Strength is not about raw power, Trunks. "

"Is he stronger than you?"

"Strength is not about raw power, Trunks." He replied.

Vegeta thought about telling his son that he did respect the only other full-blooded Sayan alive, but stayed silent. He returned to his meditation.

* * *

"Trunks asked me if I thought Goku was stronger than you." Bulma said, brushing her short hair.

"Hn." Vegeta murmured, still taking his clothes of.

"I said that I find it very doubtful. After all, strength is not about raw power."

When Vegeta said that to his son, he meant that although he had more power to destroy than Goku would ever have, Goku didn't have the barriers that Vegeta had. So the fool was faster, more concentrated and in general more relaxed while fighting any opponent. It was no surprise that he got to Super Sayan first. But when Bulma said it…

"Do you?" He asked, already in bed.

"Do I what?" She replied, while lifting up the covers.

"Do you have doubts if Goku is stronger than me?"

"Well… He is strong. But come on… I can't for the life of me imagine him coming up with any battle tactic. And also… Have you seen how much it takes for him to go full power? Or to kill his opponents? Sometimes I think he is fighting just for fun." She stayed silent for some instants. "In a battle between you two, I guess the winner would depend of the rules. But if I had to choose one of you to defend us, of course it would be you."

"I have failed in doing that every single time I had a chance." He replied.

"Vegeta… You saved my life when you killed that green frog in Namek. Then you killed the two pink things that were with Freeza on Earth. If it wasn't for you, Gohan would never have finished Cell. And even Goku knows that even if he could come up with the plan to bring the boys back from Buu's body and the Spirit Bomb attack or if you could summon the Spirit Bomb instead, what I really think you should learn, he didn't have a chance to gain the amount of time you did. And throw all of these, you were constantly battling your own mind, scars left by a lifetime of abuse in your soul. Next time, and I really hope there isn't a next time, you won't be battling Freeza at the same time you battle your opponent."

Vegeta belived her. But she was wrong.

The next time happened only one year apart from the Buu incident. Lord Beerus came to Earth, and defeated all the z-fighters without even touching them. Vegeta, again, could barely breath in the presence of the destruction god.

"You seem to be way smarter than the other fool."

"I'm a real Sayan. I know the meaning of absolute power, Beerus-sama."

"You are not the first one to truly fear me. Neither are you the first to look into my eyes before annihilation. But you are the first one to do both things at the same time. Don't you have any regrets, Vegeta? Don't you fear hell?"

"I have been there before. I was not impressed."

"You will not return this time."

"It is an honor to die at the hands of the god of destruction himself."

"What a nice thing to say…"

And just when Beerus was ready to send the small ki blast that would obliterate Vegeta's body and soul, they heard the slap. And the universe got still.

Bulma had the nerve to slap the god of destruction. And to yell at him.

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE RUINING MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

Let it to Bulma to be more preoccupied about her party than the life of her husband.

Vegeta saw what happened after that in slow motion. He saw Beerus raising his hand and slapping her face. He saw her body flying. He saw when Trunks and Goten caught her. But he could hear nothing.

After that, it was like he was seeing everything from afar. Some barrier broke inside his mind and his soul was combusting itself with the fury of a big bang. Powerful enough to begin a new universe.

And he attacked. Beerus saw him coming. For the first time in his existence, Beerus was not fast enough to dodge his opponent. The fight was frantic, and nobody but Vegeta, Beerus and Whis were capable to follow it. Vegeta was capable of absorbing a punch, and hit a very well aimed knee to Beerus stomach. For the first time in his life, the god gasped. If Vegeta could do that only one time more, he would break some ribs. It would be over if he could. But even insane, he knew it was impossible.

His body could not sustain that much power. It was being torn apart, even when Beerus could not hit him. In a last attempt to save his now frail body of that massive amount of energy, and who knows hit his opponent, Vegeta shot a giant version of his Galic Gun. The sky flashed violet for some seconds, and then cleared to show the exhausted Sayan looking at the mostly unharmed god.

"Who would guess you would have so much power inside of you?"

"Do not touch my mate." He replied.

"I will kill you all, and then destroy this planet."

"Whatever."

Beerus raised his hand, but all it took was a slight touch to Vegeta's forehead for the Sayan lose the last bit of concentration he had. His hair returned to black, he lost consciousness and free fell to the ground.

He awoke with Bulma's bright eyes over his face.

"You are a very stupid Sayan." She said, while trying to clean his bleeding ears with her bare hands.

"And now I am a dead one." He replied, trying to breath. "I've failed you again."

"Are you talking about my face or my planet?"

"Woman, I already told you I don't care about this mudball."

Bulma smirked.

"Come on, let's get you back on your feet. If we die today, we die standing." She said, with a small smile on her bruised face.

They didn't die that day. Goku has come, and invoked Shen Long to ask about a Super Sayan God. After that, it was 'only' a matter of lighting Goku's heart and see the Sayan becoming a god and fighting against Beerus. Goku lost, but the Earth was safe.

"I can train your body to accept your real power." Whis said, while preparing to leave the planet with a faking sleeping Beerus.

"Why should I trust you?" Vegeta replied.

"You shouldn't. But how long will your body last?" The blue alien replied, and then he was gone.

Vegeta knew he was right. His eyes and ears were still bleeding, his lungs were collapsing inside his chest and his heart was having problems to accompany the demand of his limbs. He could also feel the tears in his skin, under his clothes. His head felt like it was going to implode.

After Whis and Beerus were gone, Dende has cured the fighters and Bulma, but there was still too much power running throw Vegeta's veins. In the following week, Vegeta has trained himself raw, stopped eating and was constantly seem shooting Final Flashes to the sky, trying to disperse the excess of power.

In the end, Bulma called Whis and offered him an absurd amount of food, trying to win his favors. One of these was some bracelets that absorbed ki. Another one was to train Vegeta's body. Vegeta trained with him in Beerus planet for six months, along with a childish Goku that only wanted to get stronger. Bulma was glad he went along, because one week before Vegeta would complete seven months away, Freeza came back to Earth.

For all the demons to be born or reborn, it was Freeza who had came back. It seemed that this time was really going to be the end of Earth, with no Mirai Trunks to save them. But didn't Goku always arrive at the last second to save the day?

But Goku, that now would go all blue and said he had the power of a god, was no match for an Oscar statue looking Freeza. When Goku fell, victim of a ridiculous attack, Bulma was certain that everything was lost. She had convinced Whis and Beerus to come to Earth promising them strawberry sundae, but they were not concerned about the fight. And Vegeta… Vegeta has not moved a single muscle since he arrived.

"Vegeta never could do anything against Freeza. We are all lost." Piccolo said.

"Vegeta…" Bulma murmured, looking at her husband.

Vegeta heard, and looked at her.

" _Nemini esango daah_!" He shouted.

Bulma smiled. Such a simple Sayan expression, that would mean so much in that moment. She could direct translate that to "say the future", or in the Earth's saying, "your wish is my command", but that wasn't even close to what it really meant. It meant that he would conquer the future she wanted. That he would kill the targets she appointed, come back all the times she asked for, but would gladly let himself be killed if she insinuated that she didn't want him anymore. That even if he did not trust his mind enough do make the decisions he needed, he would trust hers. That if she said he was capable, he damn well would conquer the universe for her.

"Annihilate that ugly bastard, and come back home. We miss your bad mood." She shouted.

Vegeta smirked and disappeared in the air.

"Was that the Sayan-no-Ouji?" A dumbstruck Jaco asked, in whisper.

Bulma didn't hear the small alien that came to warn them Freeza was coming. Actually, only Piccolo heard him.

"That is Vegeta. He is Bulma's husband." The Namekian answered, in her place.

"Earth is a so small. Who would guess?"

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked.

"They will come… And rise…" Jaco didn't elaborated, and Piccolo found it better to not ask. After all, Vegeta has just taken Goku from the battle field and Kulilin was giving him their last Sensu Bean.

After eating it, the younger full-blooded Sayan got to his feet and shouted his gratefulness.

"Hey, Vegeta! Do you want me to come back and try to finish him?" Goku asked, knowing that once upon a time, Vegeta would not tolerate the humiliation of not be able to fight in the presence of Freeza.

"The woman said she wanted him annihilated. Even if you win, you will just try and give him another chance." The other Sayan replied.

"Well… Then go for it." Goku cheered, scratching his head.

"You? You will kill me?" Freeza mocked.

"Kill you? You are already dead. I will obliterate you."

Freeza laughed. Vegeta just closed his eyes, summoned his energy and went blue.

In three moves Freeza was on his knees, completely defeated, not knowing what happened.

"You? How? I can't believe I was defeated by _Vegeta_!" The snake spat the name like it described a disgusting kind of larvae.

"I've lived throw so much, the terror you once had over my soul pales in comparison."

"You are lying! You will forever remember! Your boyhood will always be mine! You will be forever the prince of nothing! "

"Do you want a medal for it?" Vegeta replied. "Do not come back. I have better things to do than to look at your ugly face."

"If I fall, this world falls with me!"

Freeza prepared an attack that would destroy the whole planet, but Vegeta was faster. With one hand he raised the once tyrant by the throat, over his own head, impending him to connect his three clawed hand to the ground. The world flashed violet for five seconds, and them even the dust of Freeza's body was no more.

Everybody but Bulma, Whis and Beerus sighed in relief once the tyrant was dead. Beerus wasn't even paying attention, so it was irrelevant to him. Bulma and Whis were.

Vegeta hadn't powered down. His blue hair was so shiny it was almost white. There was smoke forming around his head, were the sweat coming from his skin and the blood coming from his ears were being vaporized. At this peace, he would consume himself to keep going.

"Vegeta! That was incredible!" Gohan was saying when Vegeta came near them.

"Wow! I'm really grateful you're at our side!" Said Kulilin, like he didn't said that for the past eleven years.

"Vegeta?" Bulma asked, when he stopped, still fully powered up, five meters far from her.

"I need help." He said, looking straight to her blue eyes.

The breath of every single z-fighter stopped at his admission. During their fights, they had seen Vegeta paralyzed with fear, beaten to death, and never, not single once, they heard the Sayan admitting any kind of weakness aloud. For him to just say he needed help… What was going on?

"Vegeta… It is okay… I know you just killed Freeza, so it may take a while…" Kulilin started before Vegeta grabbed his own head with both his hands and roared.

Goku, sensing the other Sayan's skyrocketing ki, grabbed anyone out of the way using his Instant Transmission, while power exploded around and inside Vegeta's body, throw the skies. As soon as it has gone out of control, Whis appeared behind the Sayan, and knocked him unconscious. But even out like a light, power was still burning throw Vegeta's body.

"What the hell was that?" Master Hoshi asked.

"He just lost control over a power like that?" Tien asked, incredulous.

"Oh my… Is he doing my work now? He just exploded Mars…" Beerus complained, licking the bowl that once held a strawberry sundae. "I want more of this. Are there any other flavors?"

Whis sighed, but turned to look at the Sayan still convulsing body. Tears were opening in his skin, but the blood that flooded was being vaporized by his burning aura. It was not good.

He then conjured, from thin air, a blanket and four pairs of the ki absorbing bracelets. The bracelets he put around Vegeta's wrists. His hair went from almost white to blue, than to blond and finally got back to black.

"Should do the trick for now." The blue alien said, while putting the blanked over the Sayan's unconscious form. "So, Miss Bulma, if you would be so gentle to procure some more sundaes to us…"

"Sundae? What about Vegeta?"

"Well… He needs to rest for some weeks. The least he uses his energy, the better. Then we may resume his training. I think Goku may be able to impede him to train or fight for a while… "

"What? I'm not going back to train?" The other Sayan asked, frustrated, at the same time that Beerus said he wanted more of the sweet and icy dessert.

Bulma sighed. Deciding it would be better if Vegeta'd wake up in a still whole planet, she asked her friends to pick Vegeta up, that they all would be going to Capsule Corporation to make sundaes.

Not surprising, Goku ran to Vegeta's body, talking about being starved. She was somewhat concerned about the careless way Goku lifted up her husband's now bloody body, when she saw him Instant Transmitting and thought that at least he would not get jostled in flight.

"I just hope he will have sense enough to take Vegeta to the infirmary, rather than the kitchen." Bulma said.

"Goku has gone to the Lookout. For once, he actually could think beyond his stomach." Piccolo said, in awe.

* * *

When Bulma and the others arrived at the Compound, Goku was already eating an enormous bowl of rice from the feast Bulma has ordered mid flight, with Goten seated at his side.

"Dende healed Vegeta. He is sleeping in his room." Goku said, with his mouth full.

"Had he eaten anything?" Bulma asked.

"He didn't wake up." Replied Goku.

"Trunks-kun is with him." Said Goten, looking at his father with long eyes.

Bulma sighed again, and said to her guests to help themselves. She then went to her bedroom, to see her exhausted husband and certainly frightened child. Just as she predicted, Trunks was seated in a stuffed chair, positioned beside the bed, where his father was sleeping.

"Is everything okay, Trunks?" She asked.

"I've never seen him like this before. I just…" The boy tried to reply.

"Are you just worried?"

"He is not supposed to stay just laying, unguarded."

Unguarded? Was that what the boy was doing? Protecting his father?

"I felt it, you know. That monster's ki." The lavender haired boy said.

Bulma just lifted a very well defined eyebrow.

"It was like I could see the fight from here. Goten could, too. We were terrified Goku-san was going to die. It was nothing like the time with Buu."

"What do you mean, sweetie?"

"That time, when Papa died… And Goku-san was not here… We knew that if we trained enough we would be able to someday defeat Buu. And then… And then we could gather the Dragon Balls and repairs things. This time… I've never felt something like the ki of that thing. It was not only overwhelming powerful, but it was essentially mean. We knew we would never have any chance against him. "

"Your father killed Freeza, Trunks. It is okay now."

"Mama… You do not understand. The amount of power Papa gathered to do it… It is impossible. We shouldn't be alive. He shouldn't be alive. And now his body is so weak … I feel like even a cold wind is capable of killing him."

Bulma looked at her husband again and noticed his swallow respiration. Suddenly, she was very grateful for the blanket Whis provided. It was still wrapped over the Sayan, even if slightly blooded.

"If that thing ever comes back… He won't need to do it again. Even if I have to cut Freeza in two."

Bulma smiled at that comment, before just laughing uncontrollably. Trunks stayed looking at his mother for some seconds, wondering what was so funny, when they heard a low groan coming from Vegeta. Bulma got quiet immediately and started fussing over him.

"Hey sleepyhead. How are you feeling?"

Vegeta opened one eye, took notice over his environment and, satisfied only his child and mate were around him, closed it again.

"Hn." He replied.

"That good ahn? So, tough guy, we are having a banquet downstairs. Want anything to eat?" She asked, already pilling pillows to elevate his higher body to a sitting position.

"What for?" He asked. Bulma understood he was talking about the banquet and not about the food itself.

"In your honor, of course. You just made something incredible today."

Vegeta tsked and remained immobile against his pillows. Bulma smiled.

"Hey, kiddo. Why don't you go and make your father a plate?"

"I'm on it!" Trunks replied, before powering up and flying down the stairs.

"Bulma…" Vegeta started to say, but Bulma interrupted him.

"Hush Vegeta. Our friends are downstairs, celebrating your victory. Soon our son will be up with a plate replete of absurd foods that I'm sure are not adequate for anyone's diet. And you? You deserve nothing but peace, rest and pampering today. So please, let me give you that."

Vegeta opened his eyes to look at her, but before he could say anything Trunks was flying back, balancing ten plates of food in his small but muscled arms.

"I got a little bit of everything!"

"Thanks, sweetie! Why don't you let your father eat and go play with Goten?"

"But Mama…"

"Boy. I'm fine. I'll call you if I want anything." His father said.

"Papa…"

"I heard your whining, you know. So be prepared, because as soon as I get out of this bed, we will resume your training. You have gone soft in my absence."

Trunks flushed, but smiled. The kid nodded and went back to their friends.

Vegeta closed his eyes again, and let his head fully rest against his pillows.

"Who would guess he would actually be sensible about the food he picked? That boy is really my son! So smart!" Bulma said, while lifting one big bowl filled with Missoshiru.

"Great, now I'm eating tofu'ed hot water with floating tofu during my very own banquet…"

"Oh, stop complaining, you had survived on worse things. Eat this, and I will give you a full body massage. How does that sound?"

"Like I have no choice." The Sayan replied, already opening his mouth to accept one spoon filled with the salty soup. It wasn't so bad as he remembered. Actually, after half the bowl was consumed, it really was like that watered tofu'ed thing was everything his stomach would ever be able to handle.

Near the end of his bowl, Vegeta actually fell asleep. Bulma sighed, but would not complain. She disposed of the rest of food, took some pillows out so Vegeta could lay down again more comfortably and posed her hand on his forehead. At first she was shocked to feel his cold skin, but then remembered the ki absorbing bracelets. His body was probably unable to generate any heat, with the bracelets absorbing his energy. So, unbothered by his ragged and dirty clothes, she lifted his blankets and lay with him. She felt his arm weakly bringing her body closer to his chest, and was happy to notice that even if Goku had found it better to not jostle the older Sayan so much by changing his clothes, he actually took some time to divest him of his armor. Before long she was also sleeping, content by the feel of his warming body against hers.

* * *

"Hey, sleepyhead. Can you stand up? I drew a bath for you." Bulma said, while passing her fingers throw Vegeta's hair.

The Sayan groaned and tried to curl around his sheets, but soon discovered that his body, albeit cold, was too sore to do even that small movement.

"Well, I think that is a no, then. Hang on, I will just call Trunks…"

"I'm standing! I'm standing!" Vegeta said throw clenched teeth. Wasn't it enough he would probably need her help to go to the tub, she still wanted to show his child how weak he has become? No way.

Getting to the tub was torture, but being inside the hot water was pure bliss. He didn't even acknowledged her when Bulma got inside the large tub and started to rub his right arm.

"Whis said that as your body grows stronger, we may start removing the bracelets."

"Hn." He replied, too focused on the feel of her massaging his sore muscles to really pay attention.

"Until then, I'm afraid you will still feel cold, all the time."

"I would take the cold anytime, if my head would just stop hurting." He replied.

"You are just saying that because now you are immersed in hot water with the most beautiful woman at your side. Stay here, I will get you some painkillers."

Vegeta thought about replying he would not go anywhere, ever again, when he saw a stark naked Bulma getting out of the water to go and find him said painkillers. He groaned about his inability to move painless, but accepted that he would have to content himself with the blessings that came his way.

She then came back with some pills, a very big jug of water and some fruits, all of which she helped him to gulp down when she saw how difficult it still was for him to lift his tired arms. She then resumed bathing him, while lightly massaging the muscles on his shoulders.

"You are uncharacteristically loving today. What do you want?" He asked, after almost half an hour.

"For you to stand on your own again, of course."

"It figures… I don't even know if that was a vulgar commentary or not."

"I'm always loving you know. It's you that never let me demonstrate it!"

"So now you are taking advantage of the fact that I'm incapable of defending myself?"

"Well, my husband not only has defeated the most powerful freak in the universe yesterday, he had also overcome a lifetime trauma, saved the life of my best friend that he had sworn he would kill and saved my planet. I'm rather proud of him, you know."

"If I had sworn to kill Kakarot, he would be dead."

"And it would not be the first time. We would just ask him back. Oh my kami! You made me an insensitive bitch!"

Vegeta tried to laugh, but the constricting muscles of his abdomen stopped him.

"Does that mean I can kill him?" He asked, after some minutes.

"If you kill him, you are gathering the Dragon Balls yourself. You also will stand Chi-Chi yelling alone."

Vegeta tsked and closed his eyes. He then felt Bulma getting to the other way to the tub and resigned himself about the end of this little moment of warmth.

"Can I kill the weakling instead?"

"Are you still annoyed about Yamcha?" She asked, while opening the hot water.

"What are you doing?"

"It is getting cold in here. It would be counterproductive to cool your body off."

Vegeta stayed silent, until she got near him again and started massaging his abdominal muscles. She surely has seen how they bothered him when he tried to laugh.

"Woman…" He tried to warn her, but she dismissed it.

"Relax, tough guy. If you get hard I will take care of it. For once in your life, try to enjoy the company of the sexiest woman on Earth."

"Vulgar woman." He replied, but did as she said and let his body melt against the tub side. At least she hadn't said he couldn't kill the weakling. When she retaliated rubbing his crotch, he did nothing to stop her.

After his very much needed release and another change of hot water, Vegeta was finally feeling somewhat relaxed. That was when his stomach made itself known.

"Well, I think it is breakfast time, after all." Bulma mused aloud. "So, do you want to go back to bed and have the bots bring you something to eat or would you rather bring you tight ass down the kitchen?"

Vegeta thought about just letting the bots bring him his food, when his pride stepped in his way. He was feeling worlds better after his mate's ministrations, even if he would never admit that aloud. It would actually be nice to see his son at the table. He could feel the concern in the boy's ki, even at such distance.

"I'm going to the table. Kami knows your bots will bring me only grilled tofu."

Bulma smiled, but said nothing. She emptied the tub and gave Vegeta a towel, and then got herself dried and clothed. She then looked at her husband, who just stepped throw the bathroom door, wearing thick sweatpants, a dark tank top and a gray hoodie. She arched her eyebrow at the sight, when she remembered he was probably cold, and still unable to generate any body heat by himself. Maybe the clothes would help to conserve what heat the hot water gave him.

"Put some socks on." She told him, knowing that was actually what he was going to do. He tsked but did just that.

Breakfast was a simple affair. Trunks was unusually quiet, staring at his father. Vegeta was eating at a slow pace (for him, at least), that easily allowed him to stop his fork midair and question his child.

"Have I grown another head, kid?"

"I'm sorry Papa. It is just…"

"I will say that for the last time, so pay attention. I. AM. FINE!" He spat.

"You went blue, Papa!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"Kakarot also did. Go stare at him."

"Well, I'm certain Goten is doing just that." Bulma mused over her own cup of coffee, remembering the way the kid looked over his father yesterday.

Trunks stayed quiet for some minutes, until Vegeta sighed and said it was better he spitted it out at once.

"Goku-san achieved an immense amount of power yesterday. But he seems fine today. I was just wondering…"

"Trunks…" Vegeta started, but got interrupted by the boy.

"I do know you liberated an even bigger amount of energy. I don't even know how bigger, since at some point I couldn't understand it anymore. The thing is… How is that possible? Aren't you two in the same level?"

Vegeta knew Trunks wasn't talking about who was the strongest anymore. He was merely questioning the 'Sayan level transformation'. Like there was a base power level in which a Sayan would transform.

"Boy. I though you knew this. We, actually, nobody transforms their body to be stronger. The body transforms itself to hold that strength. I, in my base state, am as strong as you are as super sayan."

Trunks murmured something about his father being probably stronger, but it was so bitter Vegeta let it slide. It wasn't true, anyway. The thing was, Vegeta had almost 40 years more of battle experience than Trunks, and it showed.

"I know that. But why hadn't you transformed further if your body can't contain your power anymore?"

Vegeta got silent. That was an answer he didn't have. Maybe… Maybe there just wasn't any other level to transform.

"Hey, kiddo. Who said anything about your father not being able to control it?" Bulma interfered. "Yesterday was an extreme situation and you know it. Finish eating so we can go and buy you that new game you were talking about before Freeza arrived."

Vegeta smirked when Trunks started to shove food in his mouth.

"Do you think that if you were fighting any other enemy, you would have used so much power?" Trunks asked, when he was ready to leave the table.

"If they had Freeza's power, yes, probably." Vegeta replied.

Trunks smiled, happy his father was not perturbed by the return of the Icejin. The kid then nodded and went to his room, to get ready to go buy his game.

Bulma also got on her feet, and deposited a languid kiss to Vegeta's temple.

"Go back to bed and rest a little bit more. I will be back in a few hours."

"I am fine." Vegeta replied.

"So you keep saying. It is starting to get tedious. I will send a robot with a hot water bag for you."

When Bulma got back to her home, the Sayan as in their bed, sound asleep.

* * *

In the following couple of days, Vegeta's body grew strong enough for him to remove one set of bracelets. For all effects, he looked like a human with flu. His movements were lethargic and he was constantly cold. He was also quite happy to meditate during hours in order to better understand and control this new power, while moving the minimum. Food lost it priority to sleep and his head was constantly pounding, but overall the Sayan was feeling fine.

He was also vastly independent. And that is why he was alone at home when he felt it.

* * *

Goku was not so happily harvesting some radishes, when he felt the sudden appearance of the ki of three fairly powerful warriors. It was nothing he couldn't take care of if needed, but the way they appeared put him on edge. Either they had instant transmitted to Earth (what was highly improbable since he didn't know that ki assignatures, and so thought that it was impossible to someone in another planet find the ki of someone on Earth that he didn't know, since he knew all the stronger warriors), they simply teleported (the only being he knew with that kind of power was Kibitoshin) or they arrived after breaking the light speed barrier. In the last case, or they were as fast as Whis or they arrived in a spaceship. And if the Sayan had taken just five minutes to look at the sky, he would have assessed it was the last option, since a space crusader was practically stationed over the north hemisphere and fairly visible to someone with Goku's vision.

But what actually caught the Sayan attention was the arrival of three small pods, not unlike the ones Vegeta, Nappa and Radits had arrived in, that landed less than one hundred meters from him.

* * *

"Vegeta, do you have any preference for dinner?" Bulma's voice said, echoing throw the house from the speakers she had installed when she gave up in convincing him to answer the phone.

Bulma sighed when Vegeta didn't answer. With one finger, she started to sort throw the response of several cameras in her house, linked to her cell phone. She almost missed him when she reached the library. He leaning against one window, with his forehead supported by one hand, pressed against the glass. His other hand was in a fist so tight Bulma could hear his bones cracking. Actually, it was his bracelets cracking that she could hear.

"Vegeta? Is something wrong?" She asked, more gently than before and focusing only in the speaker near him.

He grumbled something that Bulma could not understand.

"Vegeta?"

"They were dead… They are all dead…" She heard Vegeta murmuring, sometimes in her language, sometimes flicking to Sayandi and what she recognized as Standard.

Something was seriously wrong and she had no idea what could be it. That's when her phone started vibrating. She muted the sound in her house speakers and answered the call.

"Hello Kulilin. I'm kind of busy now…"

"Bulma! I'm trying to call Vegeta but he doesn't answer. We need his help!"

"What happened?"

"Bulma, three warriors with very strong ki arrived to Earth today." Her friend replied.

Oh kami. Was that what got her husband all worked up? But why? Freeza himself has come early in the weak and Vegeta seemed fine! What kind of monster could upset him so much?

"That ki Bulma… They are Sayan!" Kulilin continued. "They are at Mount Paozu! Can you bring Vegeta here?"

Bulma was listening, but her mind was in other place.

"Bulma? Are you listening?" Her friend asked, frantic.

"I will call you back. Ask Trunks help you, he is at Son's house." She said, before ending the call. She then resumed the connection to her home.

"Vegeta, honey, I'm coming home. Don't move! I will be there soon!"

He didn't answer. If he had recognized the ki of the warriors… He thought for so long he and Goku were the last Sayans alive… He has endured so many years thinking his race was dead… Had suffered so much trying to revenge his people… She needed to get home, now!

Half West city was in chaos after Bulma's attempt to get home quickly, but she thought that was a small price to pay. Vegeta was weakened, but also instable. She seriously doubted that much of the city would still stand if Vegeta was forced to fight. Or just decided to leave the compound. But once Bulma get in her home, she found the Sayan where she told him to stay: exactly where he was seven minutes ago.

"Hey. What are you doing here? Why aren't you in all your armor glory flying to Mount Paozu?"

It was an empty suggestion and she knew it. She would be rather worried about her galaxy AND her husband (but her galaxy first) if he would just get up and leave.

"They are alive. They came here. But they didn't come for me." A much calmer Vegeta replied. It would seem that he was doing a great work in calming and controlling himself. Or maybe he just didn't have the energy to have a nervous meltdown.

Bulma almost asked what he was talking about, but knew it was futile. He had sensed the Sayans, has felt then going to Mount Paozu instead of Capsule Corporation. She didn't even care what the Sayans wanted. Actually, she hoped that Trunks would kick some asses and come back before dinner, so he could tell that to his father. She wasn't concerned … Son was home, and he would probably intervene if her son was in any kind of peril. She hoped, anyway.

"Why don't we come to them? Show them the mistake they had made?" She suggested, pulling his hand.

The Sayan didn't reply, but followed her without protest. Bulma got him seated in an armchair. She seated in the arm, but soon enough Vegeta's hand brought her body near him, and she fell to his lap. That was good enough for her. She accommodated her head under his chin and took a deep breath. He still had the same smell of rain and electricity she had associated to power, so long ago.

"I dreamed so long about being rescued…" Vegeta murmured, but didn't finish the sentence. Bulma didn't mind.

She could wonder, after all. Along many shared nights, she had learned enough about Vegeta's past to connect the points. Vegeta was given to Freeza when he was six. A peace offer, a hostage. And he was a hostage until Vegeta-sei destruction, when he became just one more slave. Nothing changed about Vegeta's lifestyle, but how Vegeta would see it. That moment, he knew his life would never be what it should be. He knew his only hope of escaping was growing old and strong enough to conquer his own destiny. What a shitty irony to have a Sayan defeat Freeza in his place, only to arrive in a world domed to destruction by a bunch of androids hands. But in the end, the truth is that he was never rescued, and neither had he freed himself. All his life, he was just collateral. Just an afterthought.

The z-fighters always put all their hope in Son-kun to defeat the enemy. Even now, she had assured herself that even if Vegeta wouldn't come, Goku could take care of the Sayans. She needed to thank Kulilin later, for thinking Vegeta was necessary. Oh hell. Of course he was necessary! He was everything!

"You're a survivor, Vegeta." She simply said, hugging his neck. "And now you are the master of your own destiny."

"For how long?" He asked, accepting her heat. Bulma thought about being free from slavery, only to live in a doomed world. And then knowing seven years of peace, to have your sanity and life taken from you. To see your enemy being reborn more than once, be it in flesh or in the image of another, even more powerful monster. Vegeta was really a tough guy.

"For as long as you can fight. And then, when you're tired, for as long as I and Trunks stand. We are very stubborn beings, Vegeta. I assure you that among the three of us, we could last more than one lifetime."

Vegeta gave her a small, sad smile, that she more felt than saw. She raised her head and kissed his temple and started to slowly run her manicured nails throw his hair, gently scratching his scalp. Soon enough, he lost the battle against exhaustion and fell asleep. Bulma found that her husband ten minutes meltdown was rather anticlimactic, and that she should be able to help more, but would not complain. Afraid to move and wake him, she just stayed where she was.

* * *

"So, you want my Goku to be the king of Sayans?" Chi-Chi asked with tears in her eyes.

Not surprising, only she was not completely dumbstruck. Goku was scratching his head, while Kulilin, Yamcha and Gohan were wrapping their head about the fact that Sayans were alive and not a treat. Videl and Piccolo were just trying to understand what was happening.

The history was rather confusing, after all. The easiest part was to understand that several Sayans had survived the destruction of their planet. A lot of them were just in another planet during the event and were smart (or afraid) enough to stay far. Others just ran away instead of battling along Bardock. The thing got confusing when they started explaining how they had all find each other when Freeza was defeated the first time.

The thing is, they had regrouped, but were unable to fight the remains of Freeza's army.

"Weren't you supposed to be a warrior race?" Piccolo asked.

"Be careful, greeny." The younger Sayan, Pumbin, said.

"Freeza had destroyed the whole planet single handed. We had just lost our race. Our generals, best warriors and heroes were all dead. How could we risk our children that way? We were only a few thousand against millions. We had to prepare ourselves for war." Zuchin, the older of three replayed.

They were just doing that. Had been preparing themselves for nine years. And then Freeza was reborn.

"We could not travel searching for the warrior that had defeated Freeza. We had nothing on him, apart from the location of the fight. And we knew he was not Namekian." Calif, the only female of the group, said.

"You didn't even know he was a Sayan?" Yamcha asked.

"We had hope. Some of our best heroes were under Freeza's orders. But then… When we received the reports of their deaths, one by one… We had nothing to go on." Zuchin continued.

"Until Majin Buu business." Calif completed. "That was when we learned about this quadrant of galaxy. We were already near, traveling from planet to planet to hide ourselves, when we learned Freeza was reborn and was coming here for vengeance."

"We captured one ship and learned from the soldiers about his wish to kill Goku, one Sayan." Pumbin murmured.

"And now you want my Goku, the strongest of your race, to become king! Third-class dog my ass! I can't wait to see that's jerk face when he hears that!"

"Hang on. Why would my father be…"

"Aren't you looking for the one that beat…"

Gohan and Kulilin started at the same time, when Zuchin interrupted.

"The king of our race must pass a test of power to be crowned. There is nobody in our new planet that can fulfill the requirements. I have assumed the post of a kind of leader, but a Sayan does not respect the one that does not hold true power. We need a real leader. So we came to test you." Zuchin said, taking a small device from his tunic.

"Is it a power test?" Kulilin asked.

"He can go Super Sayan. Isn't that something none of you could do for centuries? Of course he will pass the test." Yamcha said, smug.

"If you don't mind…" Zuchin asked, putting the device over Goku hand.

As soon as it touched his hand, it drew a small amount of blood. In his fright, Goku launched the device to the other side of the city.

"He he… Sorry Sorry. I didn't expected it to have a needle." He said, almost ten minutes after the Sayans just keep staring at him.

"Father… Do you really think it is a good idea to…" Pumbin started to ask, when Zuchin just asked the boy to go and find the device.

When the boy returned and delivered it to his father, he had a rather smug look in his face.

"You didn't pass the test, Son Goku." The older man said.

"HOW CAN IT BE?" Yamcha asked.

"That boy had falsified it!" Chi-Chi accused.

"Hey!" Pumbin protested.

"Although I wouldn't doubt it, it would not be possible. You Son Goku, have one kind of strength impossible to falsify. There is so much fighting power in you that the measure is saturated. My son could not do that to the device."

"So, what seems to be the problem?" Yamcha asked.

"We understand that real power is the union of fighting power, a cunning mind and an unbreakable spirit. Son Goku didn't achieve the mark in the other two requirements." Zuchin said.

"The mind part I understand but…" Kulilin started.

"HOW DARE YOU…" Chi-Chi started, but Pumbin snarled at her.

"We know you are a brave fighter Son Goku, and had seen many things. We would still appreciate it if you and your family could come with us…" Zuchin started, when Chi-Chi passed throw Pumbin pulling Gohan's hand.

"Test him! Surely he is smart enough!" She said.

"Mother…"

"He is just a half-breed…" Pumbin started to protest, when Zuchin just used the device to test one drop of Gohan's blood.

Some seconds after, he stared at the result.

"You got an impressive score for fighting power kid. And an adequate one for your mind. But the spirit one…"

"HE HAS SEEN HIS WORLD ON THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT! HE HAS SUFFERED THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER! HE HAD DIED! HOW IS HIS SPIRIT NOT STRONG ENOUGH?" Chi-Chi exploded.

"Have you ever lost hope, Son Gohan? " Calif asked. Gohan just stayed quiet.

"So what if he has?" Chi-Chi started, but Gohan interrupted her.

"I always thought father would appear and solve everything. And then that we could just unite the Dragon Balls and it would be as if nothing has ever happened. When he died… I was so strong… And the world was in peace… It was not like…"

"So you never had any opportunity to have your spirit truly broken." Calif complemented.

"We really would appreciate if you all would come with us." Zuchin said, standing as to leave. "Properly trained in Sayan law, you Son Gohan could be a very good leader to our race…"

"You should test the others." Piccolo interrupted.

"We don't want a Namekian…" Pumbin started, but was interrupted.

"There are four other Sayans in Earth. You should test them." Piccolo said, pointing to Pan, in Videl's arms.

Zuchin nodded and went to test the baby. Goku just instant transmitted out of his home and in half a second was back, carrying Goten and Trunks, one in each strong arm.

Pan, of course, could not pass any test. Yet.

"It is my turn!" Goten said, while Piccolo was still explaining what was happening.

Zuchin got a small amount of blood.

"What a spectacular family. You all far surpass the fighting power requirements. But you too, young warrior, do not fulfill the other requirements."

He then extended his hand to Trunks. The boy extended his finger back, while Pumbin murmured something about the absurd of a Sayan with that coloring.

Some seconds after, Zuchin was staring at the device, with his jaw hanging open.

"Sir?" Calif said.

"Who are you boy?" Zuchin asked.

"I'm… I'm Trunks Briefs." He said.

"Father, what is going on?" Pumbin asked. His father just gave him the device.

"This kid has just… Scored so high in every measurement? It must be wrong…" Pumbin said, getting his own blood tested to see the working of the device. He then tested Trunks again and got the same results.

"Had he passed?" Piccolo asked.

"Yes… He will need to be trained in war tactic and Sayan law but… Yes, he passed." Zuchin said.

"I know tactic. It is boring, but when Mama agreed with Papa I had no choice. He refuses to talk about Sayan's costumes, so…" Trunks started, when Zuchin remembered something.

"Boy, who is your father?" The older man asked.

"His name is Vegeta." The kid replied.

"He was the one to defeat Freeza, this time." Kulilin said.

The look of the Sayans faces would be ridiculous if they were not so worried about someone passing out.

"Do you know him?" Piccolo asked.

"Oh my kami…" Calif said, bringing one hand to her mouth.

"Is Lord Vegeta alive?" Pumbin asked. By all means, the boy didn't have the age to know Vegeta, but nobody questioned him.

"Yeah… He is a little down after the last fight but…" Goku started, but was again interrupted.

"We need to see him. Immediately." Said Zuchin, standing up. "We had tracked every strong ki in this planet and found Sayans only in this place… What happened to him?"

"Well, he was wearing those bracelets…" Goku started saying, when he noticed that no one was paying attention to him. The younger Sayans were looking for Vegeta's ki using theirs scooters, while Zuchin was asking the kid were his father was.

"Hey, cool off. I'm trying to call them, but nobody answers the phone …" The kid said, frowning at his cell phone.

"Actually, I tried to talk to Vegeta early and neither he nor Bulma had paid any attention…" Kulilin was murmuring.

"The kid obviously knows where he lives. Let us just go there!" Pumbin was saying.

"I wouldn't arrive at Bulma's house without warning her. That place is rather dangerous." Gohan said.

Goku sighed and Instant Transmitted to Capsule Corporation, where he found Bulma's ki. As soon as he arrived and found the two sleeping in the armchair, he transmitted back, armchair and all.

It was needless to say that as soon as he arrived back at his home, there was a growling Sayan, very awake, and very furious, looking at him.

"Hey Vegeta, I'm sorry. It is just that…" Goku started, when the growling intensified. Vegeta all but whispered.

"Don't you dare to wake her up…"

"Too late. I'm awake…" Bulma murmured. "What the hell has Son-kun done this time?"

"Come on… He? Is he Lord Vegeta? He is on that earthly woman lap!" Pumbin started.

"Look closer, you jerk! She is on his lap!" Calif replied, flushed.

"His fighting power is lower than 300. And he is so short…" The boy murmured. But nobody paid attention. At that time, all eyes were directed at Zuchin, who had kneeled in front of the armchair.

" _My lord… We thought for so long you were dead…_ " Zuchin started, in Sayandi.

"Bullshit." Vegeta replied, in the earthly language he was so used to speak, nowadays, while he pushed a sleepy Bulma that was trying to stand on her feet.

"Had we any hope, we would have died trying to…" He continued, in the language Vegeta had stated.

"ZUCHIN!" He roared. "You were there when father gave me to Freeza. Hell, it was your own father who convinced him to do it. 'One kid, for every other.' He said. One kid, so his bloodline could perpetuate. You had been dead in my mind for years, why shouldn't you stay dead?"

The next move was so fast, that some of them were only aware of it when the dust has cleaned. Bulma was seated in the armchair, with a Super Sayan Trunks in front of her. A Super Sayan Gohan was protecting a stunned Videl carrying a crying Pan, I front of a very shocked Chi-Chi. Goten was mid air, also Super Sayan, although in his case it was more instinct than anything. A blue Goku was with his hand over Vegeta's shoulder, who had Pumbin's throat in his hands. Piccolo was holding Calif back, while Zuchin was still in the ground, also dumbstruck. The roof of the small house has been pulverized. Half a second in that position, the walls had also fallen.

"Vegeta… Calm down…" Goku warned, although he was not sure he could do anything to stop the other Sayan.

Vegeta tightened his hold, looking directly in the eyes of the gasping Sayan brat in his hand. There was electricity sparking around his arms. One of the bracelets was already cracking.

"Please… My lord…" Zuchin implored.

"Never, never again, lift one single finger against me or my family." The short Sayan said. He then left the boy go. As soon as he was free, Pumbin stumbled and fell seated in the floor.

Vegeta then turned back, unconcerned, and helped Bulma to stand. He then took her place in the now dusty armchair, and looked at Zuchin, still in the ground.

"At least, respect me enough to not lie to me." He said. "Why had that clown brought me here? I don't want to see any of you."

"Lord Vegeta … We came… We came looking for a new leader…" Calif started, but was interrupted by Vegeta's dark laugh.

"It figures… And you considered Kakarot? Well, why not? Haven't he achieved every single one of my goals, what is a birthright?"

"Vegeta…" Bulma started, but even if she could touch her husband, he was unreachable in that moment. She just turned her head and asked Piccolo to explain the basics of the situation to her.

"We thought he had defeated Freeza. We thought he could pass _Verimits_ …" Zuchin started.

" _Verimits_? Are you looking for a king?" Vegeta asked.

"Well, yes Sire…" Calif started, but was interrupted.

"A king for three people?" Vegeta questioned, daring them to answer him.

"We are thousands, Sire. We found a new planet. We… We need someone to guide us back to the glory days." Calif said.

"What do you know about the glory days? They are a dream. Just as distant as the legends." Vegeta replied.

"We saw three half-breeds achieve the legend today, my lord. And one Sayan fully surpassing it." Zuchin dared to say, extending the measurement device to Vegeta.

The short Sayan tsked, but Bulma's hand on his shoulder and the small 'please' was enough for him to hold his hand up. One tiny amount of blood, half a second for computation and the gasped verdict of the older Sayan, still in the ground.

"You had passed _Verimits_ when you were just a toddler. No wonder you would saturate every single score now." He them got on his feet, put one hand over his heart and greeted.

"All hail, Vegeta the 33th, prince of all Sayans, the brightest star ever born on Vegeta-sei."

"All hail!" Both Calif and Pumbin stated.

Vegeta only tsked, and stood up.

"I thought all this bullshit has ended with the destruction of the planet. I'm going home. Kakarot, you will pay for the armchair." And just like that, Vegeta walked out.

"Is he walking home?" Trunks asked himself.

"Home?" Calif whispered to Pumbin.

"Nah… I have a plane somewhere in my pocket. I will just pick him up on the way. Hey, Son-kun, don't worry about the armchair. Chi-Chi, I will send people to reconstruct your house later, and of course I will pay for everything. Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"I… I…" Chi-Chi stuttered.

"She will stay with us for some days. Don't worry." Videl replied.

"Good. I will talk to Vegeta, so stay near. He might want to talk to you again." She said to the Sayans.

Zuchin just nodded. While she was getting away, she heard the younger Sayan brat murmuring that his father should never receive orders from a human woman. She didn't stay to hear the slap the boy received from his father.

Five minutes later, Bulma found Vegeta seated at the top of a cliff.

"I thought you were walking home." She said, after landing the plane.

"I knew you were coming. Spit it." He said, not looking at her.

"Vegeta… They are your people. They need you. Don't you want to…"

Vegeta just pulled his dark blue polo shirt out, to make a point. Although that was a not a vision Bulma would ever complain of, it was also something she had seem enough for the point being completely lost to her.

Vegeta then pointed to a small tattoo he wore in the skin over his heart. A tattoo that was completely ruined by the scar that Freeza's final blow has left in his bronze skin. A tattoo Bulma knew better than to ask about.

"It once was the crest of the royal house of Vegeta. I was born to be a king, Bulma. Instead I was a slave, and them a killer as monstrous as Freeza himself. I'm content to be this attempt of a man."

"I will not slap you, Vegeta. But I need to tell you. This is the most ridiculous think you have ever said. And you did arrive here trying to destroy my planet."

"I. AM. NOT. WORTH!" He said throw clenched teeth.

"Get a grip on reality, dear. You are delusional."

"They came for Kakarot. They can have him as their king."

"Don't you hear all the bullshit you are saying? For starters, not one single Son could pass the test."

"The test. Great thing. Of course I would pass it. Every Sayan strong enough to go super would pass the fighting power." He replied.

"Ok, and the other two?"

"I saw my world falling apart. If my spirit hadn't reconstructed, I would be dead."

"And…"

"And I am not dumb. Years in war have trained my mind enough."

"Are you sure you are not dumb, dear?" Bulma asked with one eyebrow raised. "I surely heard the old guy saying you had passed the test as a kid, before any of this tragedy happened. Also, I would like you know your son also passed it."

"Of course he had." Vegeta replied with a small smile. He tried to recover himself, but it was too late. Bulma has seen it.

"Because he has the blood of the royal house of Vegeta. Remember how brave Mirai Trunks were?"

Vegeta looked at her.

"You have survived so much. So much more than I could ever imagine…" She said, before giving his cheek a quick peak. "They need you, my love. You need them, too."

"I would have to go to their planet… I… I would live there…" He started, but Bulma interrupted him, holding his hand.

"Yes dear. We will go with you."

"You can't…"

"Ooooo, I assure you that I can! If you trade me for a sayan NOW I swear I…"

"That's not it! I cannot ask you to leave…"

"What? My planet? My parents? Capsule Corporation? You are being absurd again. After all, you are not asking me anything. I'm just informing you we will go, if you do."

Vegeta nodded and got up. After he got Bulma to her feet, he just murmured:

"All hail, Bulma, queen of all Sayans, the most annoying earthling to ever breath."

"You wouldn't have me any other way, my king."

* * *

Two years later, a Sayan committee arrived on Earth to discuss with Dende the alliance of the planet to the Sayan Empire. Bulma never knew about Mia's distressed cries when she saw, on the television, her old bully object arriving to the planet being escorted by the emperor, before having her hand kissed by the Earth kami himself.


End file.
